CAUGHT IN THE MUDDLE

A global box-office success, Diljit Dosanjh's Sardaar Ji 3 remains unreleased in India—a self-imposed restraint by its producers despite surprise backing from the BJP

- By SUHANI SINGH & ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

On the last weekend of June, a Punjabi horror-comedy film featuring a cross-border cast quietly shattered box-office records abroad. Sardaar Ji 3, starring Diljit Dosanjh, Neeru Bajwa and Pakistani actress Hania Aamir, grossed over $1.1 million (Rs 9.43 crore) in North America during its opening weekend. In the UK, it became the highest-grossing Punjabi film of the year, turning in £450,000 (Rs 5.29 crore) in just five days. It also saw sold-out shows in Pakistani cities like Lahore and Karachi, earning an estimated $500,000 (Rs 4.28 crore) on the first day itself. In doing so, the film beat Salman Khan-starrer Sultan to register the highest opening for an Indian film in Pakistan.

In India, though, Sardaar Ji 3 was nowhere to be seen. Its producers had pulled the domestic release, well aware of the heightened sensitivities following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam and the retaliatory Operation Sindoor. The hyper-nationalist climate had already seen Abir Gulaal, starring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan with Vaani Kapoor, cancel its release in India in May. But Diljit, one of India’s most popular cultural icons, sharing screen space with a Pakistani actress, even if the movie was shot much before the Pahalgam attack, irked a section of the film fraternity—the voluble social media commentariat.